Buyer Sam engages agent Bob as his buyer agent. Buyer Sam says he plans to buy a house with his VA loan with zero downpayment in the $800,000 to $1million price range.
Agent Bob refers Sam to loan officer Markita to get PREAPPROVED, not prequalified. What's the difference? A preapproved goes past the qualifications to getting the loan fully underwriter approved. Buyer Sam sails through loan approval in less than ten days. Markita says to agent Bob, "Sam has enough cash to buy two $1million houses, and still have over $16million in assets.
Buyer Sam and agent Bob set out for an afternoon of house hunting. Before they left the office, Sam asks Bob to go to the computer and pull up the waterfront houses in Prince William County. Sam flips through the few houses on the water, finds a waterfront house near Featherstone listed at $1.4million, and says to Bob, "Can you get me into this one?" Bob says, "Sure, I just need to make a reservation with the occupants." Bob called the occupants, and they said, "Come by anytime this afternoon, we're going out shopping."
The house was magnificent. Marble foyer floor with double sweeping staircases to the upper level; spacious living room on the left side of the foyer, and a dining room to the right set up for twenty people; the kitchen had two islands, one for cooking, and the other for folks to pull up a stool and eat in the kitchen; there was a roomy breakfast room with a cone shaped ceiling; 2-story family room with a stone fireplace and a wall of windows looking out on the Potomac River; to the far left side of the family room was a set of glass French doors led into the library with a wall of windows looking out at a SeaRay 240 bowrider ski boat, raised up on a lift. The basement was a Wonderland of pleasures: a theater with seating for twelve in comfy leather chairs; a poker room; an alcove with a putting green; an antique bar from the late 1800's that came from a Philadelphia hotel that was being demolished; a music room filled with the owners' collection of rare guitars; there was a 8'X10' walk-in humidor filled cigars, and a wine room fully stocked with the finest wines.
The house had five bedrooms, five full baths, three half baths. List price:$1.4million. Bob asks, "What did you notice about that house?" Sam said, "I'm a rare guitar collector too. This house has a built-in collection room, and a studio. Mmmmmm... let's offer 'em full price if they will include the boat, and the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar."
Fast forward five weeks.
Bob stoped by the house with a special bottle of wine and a box of cigars. Sam opens the door with a smile and says, "Come on in son. I was just getting a cigar to take with me on the boat. There's a crabhouse on the water not far by boat from here. Do you have time to join me?" Bob said, "Sure."
As they were skimming across the water Sam said to Bob, "Thank you for hooking me up with Markita Woods for the financing; she really knows her way around VA no money down loans. My investments are earning 10%-12%; why would I liquidate a bunch of money that's making 10% to 12% for a down payment when I can borrow money that costs me only 3%?" Bob said, "That's an example of having a mortgage planner like Markita, versus a down the street loan officer. 90% of Markita's customers come from her happy customers." Sam smiled and said, "I have already sent to customers to Markita who are closing on their houses next month. Having a preapproved loan made a big difference for all of us."
Comments(0)